Peter climbed up, passing us, placing two cams above the ledge. The rope was tight when he stopped to hang on the third piece of gear he placed, 20 feet above the ledge. The piece pulled out of the crack, who knows why, and he was high enough above his last cam that when he fell, the rope had no chance of catching him before he hit the ledge. His foot must have caught something and spun him sideways in the air, and his body was parallel to the ground when he hit.

Aid climbing aside, how many of us have hung off a piece at one time or another?
~> An action easily taken for granted, but obviously one with potential adverse consequence, apart from blowing an onsight...

With 20-20 hindsight and from a comfortable distance, he broke rule #1: never trust a single piece of gear. Sometimes you've got no choice, but I know even on bolts I'm leery when a failure means decking.

And having had a cam pull when I was hanging on it, as well as the piece below popping, it's damn freaky. At least I knew the piece was dodgy, and dodgy gear is better than no gear... usually.

I like rule #1. Popeye and I were climbing on Inquisition at Wabbit Wocks when he decided to have a rest on one wire about 5 meters up. Got a hell of a fright when it pulled and he nearly decked. A yellow cam saved him from serious grief. He should have stuck a cam in next to the wire.